X'mas banners: 198 legal, 437 illegal: BMC

Dec 28, 2011, 08:44 IST
|
Rinkita Gurav

With all eyes on the upcoming civic elections, political parties are leaving no stone unturned in reaching out to the electorate

With all eyes on the upcoming civic elections, political parties are leaving no stone unturned in reaching out to the electorate. So what if the means to that end are hideous eyesores, in the form of illegal hoardings?

According to the official count, 437 illegal hoardings were removed from 17 municipal wards, a day after Christmas. Officials from the civic body told MiD DAY that they had granted permission for a mere 198 hoardings, but 437 were removed just a day after Christmas. No action was reported from the A, B, D, E, H-West, R-South and N wards.

With all eyes on the upcoming civic elections, political parties are leaving no stone unturned in reaching out to the electorate

"This year we have removed fewer illegal hoardings. The reason for this may well be that people haven't complained about the banners. Around 500 illegal hoardings have been removed from the city," said a BMC official, adding that the maximum number of hoardings were removed from L-Ward, which is in Kurla, and the least number of hoardings were removed from C ward, Kalbadevi.

Another official from the licence department added that the BMC was finding it particularly difficult to curb this menace, as it is almost impossible to catch the culprits. "We cannot catch or fine anyone putting up these hoardings, as they work mainly by night."

In August, MiD DAY had reported that while BMC had granted permission for only 345 hoardings during Janmashtami, nearly 4,000 illegal hoardings had dotted the city. Similarly, between October 1 and October 7, the BMC had removed 1,739 banners, even though permission was granted for only 10.

1,739The number of banners the BMC removed between October 1 and 7 this year, even though permission was granted for only 10